The word "那么" is formed through the fusion of the demonstrative pronoun "那" (nà), meaning "that", with the ancient grammatical particle "么" (me), which historically served to generalize or abstract a concept. This combination transforms the concrete, spatial idea of "that" into a more abstract, adverbial function, creating a single unit that points to a degree, manner, or consequence inferred from a prior context, essentially meaning "like that" or "to such an extent".